Harsh Words of Comfort
by Scuttlest
Summary: When Caeda died, it felt like his world had ended. Yet comfort came from a most unlikely individual. Marth/Minerva. Rated T. FE11.


**Not sure is this would really be considered a "crack" couple or not, but you can be the judge of that.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

The sun was shining, and that made it all worse.

The air was fresh, and the landscape was beautiful. It shouldn't have been, it should have been storming, the weather should have been so terrible that going outside was idiocy, because the memory of this day was going to taint all beautiful days for every member of the army for the rest of their lives.

Because the princess of Talys, the elegant Caeda, had died.

More accurately, she had been killed. At Khadein, one of the most high ranking members of the enemy, Gharnef, the one who had betrayed his master, killed his peer, stole a forbidden spell, and sold his soul to Dolhr, was there ready to end the army, the Archanea League. He had in his possession, the spell known as Imhullu, the forbidden spell rendered its wielder impervious to any and all attacks. The perfect weapon for a coward.

Fate decreed that Gharnef would target Marth, the leader of the army. Upon the dunes of Khadein's desert landscape it was easy for movement to be slowed, but the land was of no consequence to mages like Gharnef.

Marth, the prince of Altea, had been cornered, and would have been killed if his beloved Caeda had not intervened. Pegasi, like the one Caeda rode on, enjoyed a natural resistance to magic, so it must have made sense to her to dive between Marth and his attacker. Yet this was Imhullu, its power was not so easily thwarted. A fact that must have been among Caeda's last thoughts.

The spell had simply killed the princess' Pegasi on contact, and Caeda was torn off by the force. Despite the prince's desires, and a rather panicked attempt to save her conducted by Lena, Maria, and Wrys, she died.

Gharnef had left the battle almost immediately thereafter, leaving behind a mock encouragement to find him at the Temple of Thabes. Marth might have attacked the invincible Gharnef, or tried to spend a final moment with Caeda, if it hadn't been for Minerva. Though, her way of convincing Marth to leave could have been more… graceful.

Actually, little "convincing" had taken place, she had initially tried to physically restrain him, but when he started to free himself from her grip she resorted to striking the back of Marth's head with the handle of her axe. Proceeding to load the unconscious prince onto her wyvern, she had brought Marth back to the camp.

The rest of the battle for Khadein had occurred without Marth, though Minerva had returned in the last hour. When the demoralized army returned to the camp, Marth had already woken up, but, perhaps somewhat predictably, he refused to see anyone.

"How is he?" Minerva directed her question at Jagen, the aged Paladin shifted around to face the princess of Macedon. There was a distinctive raised eyebrow on the man's face, most likely surprised that Minerva had come to ask, rather then send one of the Whitewings. Palla and Catria were always running around asking questions to various army members for the sake of Minerva, the princess herself wasn't much of a people person.

"As well as could be expected, but he can't stay like this for long. He has an army to lead." Jagen paused, recalling Marth being chosen by Nyna to bear the Fire Emblem, pretty much everything was resting on his shoulders now. Yet the weight of destiny seemed a trivial load compared to the weight of shattered life, espeically when it was a life that had been so precious to you.

"May I see him?" Minerva could just vaguely feel a lump in her throat, trying to talk to Marth after she had forcibly brought him out of the battle… it would not have been pleasant or graceful.

"It wouldn't be wise. He's already shouted both Nyna and Hardin out of his tent." Jagen briefly shut his eyes, recalling the venom that had been spewed during those two meetings, Marth was in a moment of the grieving process where he could cut off and reject any attempt to be comforted. "Besides, I'd imagine he'd be a little… sensitive, about being dragged out of the battle for you."

Minerva's eyes traced to the left, she was full aware that Marth would have chosen to die rather then go on without Caeda. Just thinking of the misery Marth must have been feeling right now was pressing a weight on her heart, though she wasn't the only one who was starting to feel like this.

All it took was a look around the camp, people were huddled outside the camps, sitting around the campfires, and the fact that they had just, perhaps only temporarily, liberated Khadein, had not placed any smiles on anyone. The loss of Caeda had struck everyone, Marth had simply taken it the worst, and he couldn't be blamed for that, he was closer to her then anyone else.

Her body had been collected after the battle, of course. She, along with her bodyguard, Ogma, were sent back to Talys, explaining what had happened to the king would not be easy or simple. Ogma had been placed in a truly pitiable position, but it was more Marth that Minerva was worried about.

"Let me see him." Minerva had taken a while to process the words while looking through the camp. The fact that every one was acting like they lost the battle when it had, in reality, been mostly one-sided in their favor was enough to sober anyone and bring them back down to Earth. Jagen paused a moment, then stepped aside, the expression on his face made it clear that he didn't think of this as the best idea, but Minerva either didn't see it or didn't care.

Moving the drape in the tent to the side, she expected to see Marth huddled in a corner, instead he was sprawled out on the floor. The first thing that Minerva noticed was the dampness of the area around his head, it seemed obvious that he had managed to cry himself to sleep. The logical thing to so was make a pitying sigh and leave, but instead Minerva walked forward and placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a small shake.

"Marth, wake up." There was that one moment where she regretted her movement and action and wanted to leave, but when a small moan came from Marth there could be no turning back.

Marth's head rose for a moment before sinking back down onto the floor of the tent. His eyes, quite dry now, darted around, but he wouldn't turn around, or over, to determine who had just woken him up.

"Who is it?"

"I know you can recognize my voice, Marth." Minerva sighed at the fact that he had bothered to ask. "I just came to ask if you were okay."

"Okay?" If Minerva had any belief that their meeting could go without drama, it died as Marth clenched his fists. "Caeda is gone, how could I ever be okay?" With a small movement Marth appeared to try to go to his knees, but he just slumped back down to a prone position. "Thanks to you, I never even got a proper chance to say goodbye. I assume you had fun with that?"

A dagger pierced her chest with that last statement, even if she knew it wasn't true.

"You know that's not why I did what I did, Marth." Her words came out a lot less… confident of the truth then she wanted, but if Marth noticed he made no reaction. "I only did what I could to help you."

"Oh really?" Marth's tone began to build in terms of bite and venom. "Since when has preventing people from saying goodbye to the one they love been considered "helping"?"

"Marth, that's not-"

"You didn't let me say goodbye. Why? I could have taken her back, I could have done something if it hadn't been for _you_."

"You know full well that's not what I was trying to do." Minerva's tone began to grow more agitated, Marth allowed himself a bitter smile at that fact. "What you have done in my position? Just stand there and leave you a sitting duck for Imhullu?"

"I-" Marth's defense of his side tripped. "I don't know… anything! You could have done anything to help me and Caeda, instead you denied me just one last moment with her." Marth sighed as he lifted his head, his vision still blurred from the tears that had poured from his now dry eyes.

"Marth, think about why I would have denied you a last moment." Minerva knelt down beside the despairing prince, Marth tensed up, expecting her to do something, but nothing happened. "Lena, Maria, and Wrys were around her, if they couldn't save her, what good would your presence have done?"

"She was already dead, Marth!" She suddenly yelled at him, but her next words took on a quieter tone. "There was nothing you could have done, Marth, and you had no time to say goodbye, not in the middle of a battle."

"How do you know that?" Marth had practically screamed the words, "Was it someone precious to you that died? Did you feel this incomprehensible feeling of loss as someone forced you away from your beloved when you could have been there for the last moments? Did you… did you-" Marth's voice broke as the sight of Imhullu overwhelming Caeda flashed in his mind. "Get out! Get out of my tent, out of the army, and _off the entire continent_."

A silence followed. It must have lasted only a few seconds, but it was like days passed as Minerva attempted to process what Marth had just said to her, but her response took only a moment to put together after she realized she needed to make up.

"First off, Marth, you didn't mean that at all." Minerva spoke, as softly as possible, but Marth only responded with a weak laugh.

"I meant it, completely and utterly."

"You listen to me, Marth." Minerva reached down and grabbed him by the shoulder and flipped him over onto his back. She was prepared to flinch at a presumed sight of rage and murderous anger in his eyes, but instead she was met by eyes more characteristic of a lost, scared, and lonely child. Caeda must have been more integral to him then she thought, some of the bite of her tone slipped away at the sight of those eyes, but she continued.

"You want to know why I stopped you? Because I was worried about you. Do you realize who was standing right there? Gharnef. Gharnef, you idiot! Perhaps it never crossed your mind that it's a bad idea to cradle a corpse when an invincible and evil sorcerer is hovering right there? If you tried to mourn for Caeda, or strike Gharnef, you'd just get killed."

Marth looked to the left toward the fabric of the side of the tent, but Minerva grabbed him by the collar and gave him a violent shake to force him to maintain eye contact. She gritted her teeth at the growing defiant look in the prince's eyes, a part of her wanted to just kick Marth in his ribcage and leave, but she had come in here to try and help Marth.

Niceties weren't her strong suit, and Marth was forced to endure the full brunt of her more rigid personality. However, she had to do this in respect to Caeda, yet Marth's current emotions were a delicate thing, if she pushed too hard there was no telling how he might react. She could have come across as much harsher and stronger with her words…

"I didn't know Caeda for long, but I knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't want to see you bemoaning her like this. She died for you, the best way to honor her is to continue what you started with her, bring an end to this war."

Marth suddenly bolted to a sitting position in front of Minerva. "You." He brought a hand, clenched into a fist, into the air. "…don't understand anything!"

His hand came down toward her, but she caught the fist with an open palm and redirected the hand to the side. With her other hand she gripped his collar and pulled him in to the point that their faces were only an inch apart, a small growl came from Minerva' mouth, but Marth returned the sound and tried to pull his arm back.

Obviously having no interest in getting struck by Marth, Minerva let go of Marth's hand and brought both of her own hands to his shoulders and forced him to the ground. Releasing her grip on his shoulders, she directed her hands to his collar and pulled him back to a sitting position.

"And would Caeda have agreed to that little outburst, Marth?" She pulled him in again, "If you'd stop feeling so bitter and regretful for a full moment, perhaps you'd realize you're doing nothing to honor Caeda's memory."

"Caeda…" he closed his eyes and reacted to the feeling of the misery, and perhaps just a slight twinge of guilt, his entire body trembled from the pain in his heart. The anger he had felt at Minerva just a moment ago was ebbing away as the words she spoke began to sink in.

"Marth…" Minerva released his collar and placed a hand on his left cheek. "I know you need time, and I'm not trying to force you to step up, and I'm not trying to say you should just put the memory behind you, I just-"

She couldn't finish her sentence, Marth's next action caught her off-guard far too completely. He slumped forward, taking her arms off his cheek with the sudden movement, and his head sunk into her shoulder, fresh tears poured out of his drained eyes and onto the armor that protected Minerva's shoulder, yet his next action would shock her even more.

"Caeda…" Marth's arms suddenly wrapped around her, her head pulled back at the action but then returned to its former position. He continued to mutter Caeda's name, as if it was the only thing that could matter in his life. Minerva's eyes had widened from the suddenness of the action, but after a scant few moments of staring at the prince's blue hair she released a sigh. After a moment of awkwardness, Minerva returned the gesture, pulling Marth completely toward her, though exactly _why_ she was doing so, she didn't fully understand.

With the embrace in effect, she would have been rightfully embarrassed if someone had walked in on this, especially if it was one of the Whitewings, but in this moment her thoughts were completely focused on the prince who had somehow and for some reason, had her arms around him. For the extent of the moment she allowed Marth to continue, even as his grip around her was starting to tighten, then she let go, pulling herself back.

The silence hung there, Marth's head remained bowed even after he was off of her shoulder, Minerva just stayed there, knelt down, almost expecting a response from him, or something else. Yet after several minutes of the silence, she decided to get up and leave, until a voice stopped here.

"W-wait." Minerva paused as Marth called for her, as she turned around Marth was already standing up and dusting his legs off. "I…" He turned his head to her, his eyes were filled with… shame?

"I'm sorry." Marth pulled his eyes away, seemingly not wanting to look right at her. "I… I know my duties, I just… I mean, I-"

"It's okay, Marth." Minerva stood there for a moment before turning to leave, she had barely begun walking when she felt something grip her wrist. She turned her head back to see Marth's hand firmly on her wrist, and not letting go.

"Minerva, please wait a moment." Marth dragged her a step back, Minerva stole a glance to the outside she had planned to go to before returning her vision to Marth. "You… will you come see me again?"

"Of-" Minerva's words were ensnared in her throat. Normally she was very resistant to the I-feel-so-lost expression, but Marth was somehow melting her normal attitude. "Of course."

"Thank you." Marth released his grip on her, she took a few moments to regain his composure. She felt she had lost control of the situation at some point, and that had unsettled her, she finally was about to leave, but there was one final thing to stop here.

"Minerva?"

"Yes?"

"Stay safe."

Minerva turned around one final time to be greeted by the sight of Marth… blushing, she instantly twisted back to the front rather then risk the sight warming her own cheeks. Quickly she darted out of the tent, nearly running into Palla right outside.

"O-oh!" Palla jumped back as her commander's frame nearly slammed into her. "Princess Minerva, I was just going to go get you."

Minerva turned back to Marth's tent, the last thing she would have wanted was someone, especially one of the Whitewings, to have seen her interaction with Marth. Especially during the embrace, if one of the Whitewings had walked in on that…

"Palla. Was there a reason you came to see me?" Minerva slid back into her former commanding personality.

"Yes, mistress. The army's next move has been decided, we're planning on moving to Altea and liberate Marth's homeland." Palla turned her head to look toward the commanding tent, the place Jagen had disappeared to while Minerva was with Marth. "Of course, until the commander of the army, that is, Marth, Nyna, Hardin, and you, approves of it, we're stuck right here."

"Right…" Minerva knew full well that the decision would be unanimous, Hardin and Nyna would obviously try to do something that would lift Marth's spirits. Getting him away from Khadein was necessary as well, yet Minerva would sooner assume that going to Altea would simply pierce Marth's heart even further, and make him wish Caeda was with him to free his homeland. "I imagine it's Altea next, then."

"And what of Marth?"

"He'll be fine, he just needs a bit more time." Minerva turned around to look at Marth's tent, the drapes at the front came down in a way that made it impossible to see Marth, but at the very least he probably wasn't sobbing himself to sleep now. The interaction that took place there was far from expected, and something about it…

"Mistress?" Palla took note of the sudden pause in Minerva, then she spotted something else, something that Whitewing had never seen from her princess before.

"Mistress Minerva, are you… blushing?"

"What!" Minerva took a step back. "No, no! I'm not." Minerva snapped around and raised a hand to her left cheek, it was quite warm, and the feeling of the heat seemed to stab at her heart. She couldn't turn back to Marth's tent right now without letting Palla see her face and- why did just thinking of Marth's name make her cheek grow even warmer?

After a moment of thought, the realization of what emotion she might have been feeling dawned on her, and she didn't like it one bit.

"Come on, Palla." Minerva suddenly stormed off with Palla behind her, but the Whitewing subtlety raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in Minerva's disposition.

* * *

**Not actually sure off the top of my head if "Pegasi" is actually the singular form of "Pegasus", but I'm rolling with it.**

**I've always liked the imagery of Marth being with a more hardass girl, but maybe that's just me. She does support with Marth in FE11's support system. Hopefully, with the return of actual support conversations in FE12, I might (_might_) get to see something between the two, but that'll have to wait until they get off their lazy arses and confirm that State-side release.**

**Please review. No flames.**


End file.
